EDITORIAL: Will Unlikely Voters Pass Proposition Nineteen

By Ron Crumpton

According to a SurveyUSA, a September survey of likely voters revealed that 47percent of those polled favored legalization, while 43percent were against legalization.

The key phrase here is likely voters. If proposition 19 passes it will be because of unlikely voters, not likely voters.

If a state has ever had the opportunity to stand and say, “we are not going to go along with the bullshit any longer,” California is that state. By being registered and going to the polls, the counter culture has an opportunity to pass its dearest piece of legislation, legalization.

Once again, California has the opportunity of being the guinea pig for the rest of the nation. Once again, California has the opportunity to show the rest of the nation that the prohibition of cannabis is more dangerous than the legalization of cannabis. Once again, California has the opportunity to show the rest of the nation that the propaganda shoved down our throat, by the government, for the last 100 years is nothing more than a bunch of twisted lies from the ignorant, the insidious and the insane.

The facts show that cannabis is less dangerous than alcohol and cigarettes, and unlike these substances, cannabis has legitimate medical uses. The legalization of cannabis would allow law enforcement to focus on drugs that are actually killing our kids such as crystal meth, heroin and cocaine. Legalization and legal production of cannabis would put many criminal gangs out of business and prevent violence.

Amsterdam has already proven that when you separate cannabis users from hard drugs, you have a much lower rate of cannabis users transferring to hard drug use. With prohibition in America, it is not uncommon for dealers to sell more than one product. Cannabis is a gateway drug only in the sense that it tends to make other substances more easily available to cannabis users. Legalization would end this contact, if you want other substances you would have to cultivate other sources.

Aside from the many reasons that pot should be legalized, this is an opportunity for anyone who believes that the federal government tries to enforce too much control over our personal lives, to stand up. Anyone who truly believes that liberty means that you have the freedom to do whatever makes you happy in the privacy of your own home – provided you are not harming anyone else – should support this issue.

This is the biggest opportunity that cannabis community has ever had. Not only is it a major step for the citizens of California, but it is a necessary first step toward the end of cannabis prohibition for the entire country. This can be easily proven because since the birth of Proposition 19 in California and the release of their tax projections, many other states have started to show interest in legalization.

However, if the mass of California cannabis users whom have never voted in any election fail to vote in this election; legalization will not pass. The result, the cannabis community will suffer its greatest setback since the passage of the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970.